EQuIP Peer Review Panel for Science: New Category, New Badge, New Pathway

 

In fall 2016, Achieve launched the EQuIP Peer Review Panel (PRP) for Science as a group of expert educators who evaluate the quality and alignment of lessons and units to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The peer review panel seeks to identify lessons and units that best illustrate the cognitive demands of the NGSS as introduced in A Framework for K-12 Science Education.

Now, Achieve is expanding its call for submissions with the goals of (1) expanding the categories of lessons and units that will be shared by the PRP, (2) announcing a new digital badge that will follow high-quality materials wherever they are posted online, and (3) opening the PRP review process to developers who face intellectual property constraints.

A new category entitled "Quality Works in Progress" was created. Early reviews by the PRP surfaced lessons and units that address some criteria of the EQuIP Rubric for Science, Version 3.0 very well, but did not rate high enough to be shared as Examples of High Quality NGSS Design or Examples of High Quality NGSS Design if Improved. Therefore, a new category has been added to the online library. The new category does not represent a rating on the EQuIP for Science scoring rubric, rather it will include any lessons and units identified to have strongly addressed at least one of the EQuIP criteria.

A new digital badge for "Examples of High Quality NGSS Design" was developed. In the future, any lessons and units identified by the peer review panel as Examples of High Quality NGSS Design will not only be shared online, but will also be awarded a unique digital badge which can be displayed on website(s) of the individual, school, district, or organization that developed and submitted the lesson or unit.

Achieve added a new submission pathway for developers with intellectual property constraints. For developers who were previously restricted from submitting NGSS lessons or units under one of the Creative Common licenses, there is now a way to have those materials reviewed and recognized by the PRP. Developers can now earn the new digital badge and post it on their websites alongside the PRP-reviewed materials. To earn and use the digital badge, developers must agree (1) to share the materials publicly and make them freely available, (2) not to extend the claim of high-quality NGSS design beyond the specific lesson or unit "as it was reviewed", and (3) to post the EQuIP Peer Review Panel's feedback along with the reviewed materials.

Click here for some peer-reviewed examples of quality NGSS design.

Click here for important details about the expanded call-for-submissions of NGSS lessons and units.

For additional questions about the submissions process, please email Jeremy Thomas at jthomas@achieve.org.